1. Technical Field
Several aspects of the present invention relate to an electrophoretic device, an electrophoretic display, and an electronic apparatus.
2. Related Art
Electrophoretic displays including an electrophoretic dispersion containing a liquid-phase dispersion medium and electrophoretic particles have been known, electrophoretic displays employing the fact that applying an electric field changes the distribution state of the electrophoretic particles to change optical properties of the electrophoretic dispersion.
Electrophoretic displays do not require backlights, thus reducing costs and thicknesses. Furthermore, electrophoretic displays have display-memory characteristics in addition to wide viewing angles and high contrast and thus have been receiving attention as the next-generation display device.
Electrophoretic displays each having a structure in which microcapsules containing an electrophoretic dispersion are disposed between a transparent substrate having a common electrode (transparent electrode) and a substrate having a driving electrode formed of a segment electrode have been known.
Microencapsulation of the electrophoretic dispersion can advantageously prevent a drain of the dispersion in production processes of electrophoretic displays and suppress precipitation and aggregation of electrophoretic particles. These substrates are composed of, for example, plastic in view of flexibility, non-fragility, a reduction in weight, and the like.
In recent years, microencapsulation of a disperse system in advance has been widely employed.
For example, JP-A-64-86116 discloses an electrophoretic display in which microcapsules containing a dispersion system are disposed between a pair of electrodes opposite each other, at least one of the pair of the electrodes being transparent.
JP-A-10-149118 discloses an electrophoretic display including a light-transmitting transparent substrate, an opaque back substrate opposite the transparent substrate, transparent electrodes disposed on opposed faces of the substrates, and many microcapsules disposed in an enclosed region between the transparent electrodes.
In this way, microencapsulation of a disperse system facilitates disperse-system-enclosing treatment and achieves a satisfactory display image.
In the case where plastic substrates are used in electrophoretic displays, plastic substrates allow water in air to permeate therethrough, thus providing insufficient blockage of water and the like. As a result, water permeating the plastic substrates enters the display to degrade the microcapsules. The degradation of the microcapsules disadvantageously reduces the lifetime of the electrophoretic displays.
To solve the problems, a method for laminating a protective film around an electrophoretic display (hereinafter, referred to as a “display”) to seal the display with the protective film has been widely employed.
For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a display 64 is disposed between a pair of protective films 60 and 60. The protective films 60 and 60 are bonded at the periphery of the display 64 to form a seal 65, thereby sealing the entire display 64 with the protective films 60 and 60. As shown in the figure, it is necessary to use an adhesive 66 to bond the protective films 60 and 60.